Pacific Symphony Kicks Off Symphonic Voices with LA BOHEME, 4/19,21,24

Before "Rent"-there was "La Bohème"-and now it's back for the kick-off of Pacific Symphony's new opera-vocal initiative, "Symphonic Voices." For three nights, the orchestra comes out of the pit and onto the stage for the presentation of one of Puccini's most popular and heartbreaking operas.  Led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, "La Bohème's" timeless tale of carefree Bohemians and star-struck lovers features a cast of world-class opera singers, Pacific Chorale and the Southern California Children's Chorus-filling the stage with their astonishing voices. Inspired by St.Clair's successful career as an opera conductor in Europe, "Symphonic Voices" continues next season with another Puccini masterpiece of high emotion, grand tragedy and gorgeous music: "Tosca."

"La Bohème" takes place Thursday, April 19; Saturday, April 21; and Tuesday, April 24, at 8 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall; a preview talk with Alan Chapman begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30-$110; for more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

Serving as stage director for this semi-staged production of Puccini's most beloved opera of "La Bohème" is A. Scott Parry-hailed by Opera News as "marvelous," "lively," "imaginative" and "spot-on." Parry's productions have spanned an enormous range of repertoire from "West Side Story," "Madama Butterfly" and "La Bohème" to "La Cage aux Folles." And lighting and video designer Barry Steele transforms the concert hall in a way that the Symphony audiences have never seen before with lighting, projection and props.

While remaining light on costumes and set, the stage comes a live Puccini's most beloved opera with the orchestra and a cast of magnificent voices that include tenor David Lomeli as Rodolfo, soprano Maija Kovalevska as Mimi, baritone Hyung Yun as Marcello, soprano Georgia Jarman as Musetta, bass Denis Sedov as Colline, baritone Jeremy Kelly as Schaunard, bass Thomas Hammons as Benoit/Alcindoro and tenor Nicholas Preston as Parpignol.

"It is one of the most beloved, seen, heard, performed operas of all time! That's why I wanted to do "La Bohème" as our first opera-it's simply one of the greatest," says Maestro St.Clair. "It is also one of the most difficult scores-lots of bravado. It has to have elasticity and fluidity to express the constant ebb and flow of emotions. It's musically very powerful."

Just a few years ago, director Baz Luhrmann and composer Jonathan Larsen, creator of "Rent," were irresistibly drawn to modernize this opera. But there is a reason why the original could only have been set in 19th-century Paris, the city of romance and light, press notes state. Marked by street revolutions in 1830 and 1848, the Paris of "La Bohème" was a place of social change, political ferment, industrialization and urban migration. Young men and women were trying to make it on their own in the big city-almost unthinkable during previous generations.

The story of "La Bohème" begins on Christmas Eve in the shabby Left Bank, where four single men in their mid-20s-Rodolfo, Marcello, Colline and Schaunard-share an apartment as they try to make names for themselves in the Parisian world of art galleries and café intellectuals. They treat their voluntary poverty as an adventure. Mimi and Musetta, for whom poverty was never a choice, have already learned lessons that lie in wait for Rodolfo and his pals.

The tale follows the troubled relationships of two couples: the poet Rodolfo and his downstairs neighbor Mimi, and the stormy affair between the painter Marcello and the beautiful Musetta, whose coquettishness camouflages her true qualities. But most of all, the audience's affections are captured by Mimi, not a noble heroine as she might have been in an earlier "grand" opera, but a humble seamstress and embroiderer. Her relationship with Rodolfo is shaken by her illness-"consumption."

"It's not about sets and costumes, it's about the people," says St.Clair. "From the sobbing Mimi to the flirtatious Musetta, the interaction of these characters paints a highly riveting and compelling story. The fact that our opera will be semi-staged allows for the focus to be on the relationships and for the orchestra to come out of the pit into the middle of the action. Whether you love the arias, duets, the ensembles, the waltz, the delight of children's voices or the power of a large chorus-it has it all. It has everything it needs to be memorable."

Latvian soprano Kovalevska (a first-prize winner in 2006 in the Operalia Competition) made her operatic stage debut in 2003 at the Latvian National Opera in Riga, her native city. The very next year, she won the Riccardo Zandonai first prize at the International Competition for Opera Singers in Riva del Garda and the Latvian Grand Music Award. In 2006, she sang the part of Mimi in "La Bohème" at the Palau de les arts Valencia and debuted as Mimi in the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Korean-American baritone Yun has performed on some of the most prestigious stages including the Metropolitan Opera, the Los Angeles Opera and the Santa Fe Opera, as have the rest of the cast assembled by the Symphony. 

The mastermind behind the effort to bring opera back to Orange County after the unfortunate loss of Opera Pacific two years ago is Maestro St.Clair, whose stellar reputation as an opera conductor in Europe sets the ideal stage for such a venture. St.Clair recently concluded his tenure as general music director and chief conductor of the German National Theater and Staatskapelle (GNTS) in Weimar, Germany, where he recently led Wagner's "Ring Cycle" to critical acclaim. St.Clair was the first non–European to hold his position at the GNTS; the role also gave him the distinction of simultaneously leading one of the newest orchestras in America and one of the oldest orchestras in Europe. He has also served as general music director of the Komische Oper Berlin.

With a three-year plan in place, the Symphony's opera-vocal initiative offered a "prelude" earlier this season with two semi-staged performances of "Hansel and Gretel,"adapted for children, as part of the Family Musical Mornings series. Plans toextend the initiative not only include the production of "Tosca" next season, but to develop new relationships with opera training programs at local universities, as well as continue outings that take patrons to major opera houses.

Honorary Producers for "La Bohème" include the Segerstrom Foundation and
S. Paul and Marybelle Musco. The Symphony gratefully acknowledges the support of nearly 150 supporters who have made advance gifts to assure the financial security of these events.

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